tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283Thu, 08 Mar 2018 15:58:35 +0000reprapextruderplaMendeldarwinABSponokohost softwareball chaincapalasercutMaker Fairejavapcbx-axiszaphod"Clanking Replicator"MendelssohnPICRapManSanguinoarduinobracketcontrollerextrudersfilamentfirmwaregearheated bedheaterhostmultiple materialsosconpaste extrudersupportHDPETommeliseartbeaded beltbuild qualitycadcastingelectronicsextruder designg-code fileinstructionsmicrocontrollernozzlenozzle wipeperformancepolymorphstepper motorutility itemswedgewedgewood"Tommelise 2.0"3dBressenham DDACostsG CodesHuxleyI2CMacOpenSCADRUGTommelise 3.0World Dominationannouncementsawardbearingbedbelt driven extruderboardbraillebrass tubecapa belt gear polymorph darwin reprapcarriagecircuitclampcleaningconferencedelaminationextruder changerextrusionfast productionfile releaseglassgranulesidlerimpactimprovementsirclasermaterialsmeshno latheolpcpartspinch-wheelplasticplywoodpneumatic stepper motorpololupolylactic acidprintedrackrepeatabilityreprappable electronicsrepstrapresinshoessimulation windowsoftwaresourceforgestepperstltalkstamiyatemperaturetrackweb sitewikix carriagey-axisz axisz-axis"3D printer""gear""involute profile"1.75mm filament19 inch200720083d/dc512-HUFA76419P3AcrylicAdrianAligniAppleBits form BytesBoMBowden ExtruderBowden Paste ExtruderBowyerCO2Cheltenham Science FestivalDC motor suppressionDarwin 2.0Darwin replicationDetroitDoor handleExtruder temperature bugFab at homeFacebookField's metalHaskellHome manufacturingHost software documentationI2C Reprap SN754410 PCF8574 stepper controllerImplicitCADJava releaseKäferLEDMCUMasterclassMichiganMk 2.1Multimaterial Tweezers Multiple MaterialsNYCNew York CityNextGen Science FairOSEOpen Source EcologyPCF8574PMMAPTFEPTFE rodPrinted electronicsPrinting ConductorsPrůša MendelRepRap "Clanking Replicator"RepRap 3RepRap IIIRepRap electronicsRepRap history; populationRepRap progressSampoSan FranciscoSegment pausingShortLengthShortSpeedSingaporeSlice and DiceThingiverseTrainingUVWood's metaladaptoraerialairbikeairlinearduino megaartofillusionaxisbadbaggage handlerballbalsabarrelbbbelt tensionerbicyclebill of materialsblobsblogsborebracingbufferingbug-fixbuild platformbuildersbulgecable tiecarboncartesiancatcatfabceramicchainchewingchildcicadacitationclariantcoat hookcogscommunitycompilercompositeconveyor beltcoppercopper platingcornercorner bracketcostingcurlcustom iPod clipdamagedarkdarwin AoI conversiondatumdaydestroydetacheddiagonal tiesdibonddirect drivedoctor bladedrivedriverendstopepoxyequipmentetchexhibitexhibitionexhibitionsextrudedfactoryfailfailsfailurefastfestivalsfiberfibrefields metalfile releasesfirmware developmentfirst printfirst-testflagflashflaskfliamentfluid logicfluidicsfly swatterflyswatterfour dimensionsfreedomfreenodefrickin' big laserfullgearedgearsgeneration 3 electronicsglowgooglegovernment reportgputilsgranule extrudergsochalfheated chamberheatsinkhelicopter belthendersonheuristicshexagonhistoryhome Darwinhot-endhousehold appliencehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhydraulicsillusionimagin plasticsindustrial revolutioninfillinkjetinkjet material depositioninvolute profile gearskaistkeynotekittykiwilasercut repstraplasercutterlathelcalca linuxconflinuxconflogolostloveluminousmailing listmake plasticmandolinemartinimaterial depositionmathmcwiremdfmel8ournemelbournemeltmemory savingmendel mini desktop 3D printermeshlabmetal write headmilledmillingminiaturisationminimugmitremodifiedmodifiermodulemonthmotormouldingmultilingualmuseumnew extruder designnew zealandnickelnoseo'reillyoozeoptooptoswitchoratiaoutageoutputoverhangpanelparts databasepastepewterphoenixphosphorpinionplasterplatepmbpneumaticspolyfillapolylacticpolymer extruderpolymerspowercommspredictionspreferencespressproductsprojectproposalpsychedelicpulleypwmratchetrefereed journal articleregenerative medicinereleasereplication achievedreprap extruder capa polycaprolactone filamentreprapped electronicsreproductionrimringsaddlessanguino g-codesscanning tunneling microscopeschoolschool essayscrew threadsculpturesdccservershaft encodershinyslashdotslide bearingssmallsmashedsoft toolingsped upsplinesspoonspoondriversquirtstackstagestiff brittle extrudatestringstripboardsugar templatessurface qualitysurfcadswitchte papatechzonetelescopetestthermistorthermocouplethermosettime lapsetiming belttin can stepperstiptoken ringtoothed pulleytraveltsaturtleuniversalusbvalvevascular tissue fabricationversion 2videoviewfindervisitswarpwasherwaterwaxwinewire glueworkshopswreckx axiszoneRepRap: BlogBlog for the RepRap project at <a href="http://www.reprap.org">www.reprap.org</a> - a project to create an open-source self-copying 3D printer. To get all the early posts on this blog with all the images as a single PDF <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/File:A_History_of_RepRap_Development.pdf">visit this page</a>.http://blog.reprap.org/noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)Blogger1069125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-2769937877035365100Sun, 27 Apr 2014 19:43:00 +00002014-04-27T20:43:36.357+01:00Open call for AMRI 2014 Summer Fellowships<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are thrilled to announce an open call for Summer 2014 Fellowships at Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute (AMRI), hosted at Rice University in the department of Bioengineering.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year there is an open call for applications for the following projects:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Project 1: e-NABLE 3D Printed Prosthetic Devices</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In collaboration with the </span><a href="http://enablingthefuture.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">worldwide e-NABLE group</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/en/Locations/houston/our-staff" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gloria Gogola, M.D.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at </span><a href="http://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/Locations/houston" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shriners Hospital for Children</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Fellows will aid in the design, 3D printing, testing, and refinement of open-source prosthetic hand and finger designs. This unique fellowship will bring 3D printing into the clinical setting, working closely with Dr. Gogola and her patients in need.</span></span></div><b id="docs-internal-guid-f1d8e3de-a4b4-b641-974f-785f9e83a21e" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Project 2: Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fellows will augment and refine the </span><a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/OpenSLS" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">open SLS design</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> pioneered by </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE5KRSlO9rA" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Andreas Bastian last year</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. SLS machines typically cost $50k or more, we built ours for under $15k. This year we will focus on powder manufacturing and powder handling, as well as characterization of SLS parts via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanical testing.</span></span></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Project 3: OLED 3D Photolithography of Living Tissues</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Related to </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Gt_oRdd5c" style="line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anderson Ta’s exciting digital light projection (DLP) photolithography</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> last year, Fellows will investigate and program organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens as a light source for 3D photolithographic printing of living tissues. Chemical functionalization of glass surfaces will also be investigated to passivate the screen surface and aid in detachment and 3D printing from the light source surface.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Check out all the details, and be sure to apply by May 15th:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://amrinstitute.org/" target="_blank">http://amrinstitute.org</a></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div>Questions can be directed to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:amri@rice.edu?subject=Summer%202014%20Fellowships" target="_blank">amri@rice.edu</a>.</div>http://blog.reprap.org/2014/04/open-call-for-amri-2014-summer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-5690081232642128759Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:43:00 +00002014-04-08T16:45:33.547+01:00Custom G-code Generation with MecodeIf you've ever wanted to hard-code gcode but still retain some scripting flexibility (for art, science, or engineering), Jack Minardi just posted a custom g-code generation package he's been working on... it looks great.<br /><br />Checkout&nbsp;<a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Mecode">the RepRap wiki entry</a>and<br />also&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/jminardi/mecode">the github repo with instructions</a><br /><br />This could be a big win for 3d printing sacrificial inks like <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2012/07/on-challenge-of-3d-printing-sugar-for.html">sugars</a> and <a href="http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140220-harvard-scientists-3d-bioprint-layered-tissue-with-blood-vessels.html">pluronics</a> where each extruded filament position needs to be placed with precise (x,y,z) coordinates. And for arcs and meanders, there are built-in functions too! Very exciting. From the Github README: <br /><blockquote>To use, simply instantiate the G object and use its methods to trace your desired tool path.</blockquote><code>from mecode import G <br />g = G() <br />g.move(10, 10) # move 10mm in x and 10mm in y <br />g.arc(x=10, y=5, radius=20, direction='CCW') # counterclockwise arc with a radius of 5 <br />g.meander(5, 10, spacing=1) # trace a rectangle meander with 1mm spacing between passes <br />g.abs_move(x=1, y=1) # move the tool head to position (1, 1) <br />g.home() # move the tool head to the origin (0, 0) <br /></code> <br /><br />We got a chance to meet Jack at <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2014/02/join-us-at-2014-midwest-reprap-festival.html">MRRF</a> and everyone had a great time. <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackminardi">Jack Minardi</a> is currently a Research Fellow at <a href="http://lewisgroup.seas.harvard.edu/">Lewis Lab at Harvard</a>.http://blog.reprap.org/2014/04/custom-g-code-generation-with-mecode.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8568994959662818569Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:38:00 +00002014-02-14T00:41:09.608+00:00Join us at 2014 Midwest RepRap Festival (MRRF), Goshen, Indiana, USA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://midwestreprapfest.org" target="_blank" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XcB1Jg4-EnE/Uv1lBZHszUI/AAAAAAAAAOU/hsruuyeWIH8/s1600/header2.png" /></a></div><br /><br />I'm really looking forward to this!!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://midwestreprapfest.org">http://midwestreprapfest.org</a><br /><br /><div class="p1">The 2014 Midwest RepRap Festival in Elkhart County Indiana is the place to be March 14-16th. This event is totally FREE to come and attend, there are no tickets, no entry fees, just come hang out all weekend and hang out with other 3D printer guys and gals, but please fill out the RSVP form by following the link above so we know how many people to expect. This event will feature build-events, guest speakers and more!</div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><b>Highlights of the event:</b></div><div class="p2"><b><br /></b></div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">STATE OF REPRAP</span> Come hear Josef Prusa speak on the state of Reprap.</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">TEST AND TUNE</span> Experts will be on hand to help you troubleshoot issues or take your prints to the next level! &nbsp;The event is FULL of people who want to see everyone become an expert. &nbsp;Whether it’s a simple question about a software setting, a new mechanical design, recommendations on where to go to get into reprap or more, don’t hesitate to ask anyone at the event.</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">MEET THE MAKERS</span> &nbsp;Meet some of the big names in RepRap, like MaxBots (Mendel MAX dev), Josef Prusa (Prusa Mendel/i3 and more), Logxen (Smoothieboard Dev) and many more</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">CRAZY NEW REPRAPS</span>&nbsp; Nicolas Seward (RepRap WALLY, SIMPSON, LISA) will be showing off his newest reprap creations, and talking about the unique features of his designs</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">BUILD EVENTS</span> &nbsp;More to come soon on Build events ….</div><div class="p1"><span class="s1">3D PRINTING CHALLENGES</span>&nbsp; See some of the most difficult prints take shape over the course of the weekend, and some fun printing challenges too, like the hand-fed extruder print challenge</div><br /><div class="p1"><br /></div>http://blog.reprap.org/2014/02/join-us-at-2014-midwest-reprap-festival.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-2060107638428524118Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:05:00 +00002014-01-01T14:56:55.096+00:00RS Components distributing RepRaps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYoPeTeGWrs/UpydVPqf3uI/AAAAAAAABNw/4XVO7b5YdSo/s1600/rs-ormerod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYoPeTeGWrs/UpydVPqf3uI/AAAAAAAABNw/4XVO7b5YdSo/s320/rs-ormerod.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span id="goog_812563628">This blog is for the RepRap Project, and so I do not normally post information here about the activities of our company, <a href="http://reprappro.com/">RepRapPro Ltd</a>.&nbsp; See <a href="http://www.reprappro.com/blog/">our company blog </a>for that sort of thing.</span><br /><br />No.&nbsp; The reason for this post is that from today a seriously major international company - <a href="http://www.rs-components.com/index.html">RS Components</a><span id="goog_501029129"></span><span id="goog_501029130"></span>, the world’s largest distributor of electronics and<br />maintenance products - will be stocking and selling completely open-source RepRap kits.&nbsp; And in the future they hope to be selling components for RepRaps.&nbsp; In particular they want to sell vitamins-only kits so that people can print their own RepRaps.<br /><br />For more details see <a href="http://www.designspark.com/eng/nodes/view/type:knowledge-item/slug:reprappro-ormerod-3d-printer-kit/">RS's blog post here</a>, and, of course, <a href="http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/3d-printers/7952333/">their catalogue here</a>.http://blog.reprap.org/2013/12/rs-components-distributing-repraps.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-5898654878686174003Wed, 18 Sep 2013 10:02:00 +00002013-09-18T11:02:55.927+01:00Heated Piezo for Jetting Wax (and other stuff)I'd just like to draw everyone's attention to this really nice RepRap heated (ink)jet head by Mike Alden, shown here printing wax.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dXEcqrU-MHE/UjlmZR3inNI/AAAAAAAABM0/D7pAmRHW6yE/s1600/320px-Drops_On_Page_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dXEcqrU-MHE/UjlmZR3inNI/AAAAAAAABM0/D7pAmRHW6yE/s1600/320px-Drops_On_Page_01.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Heated_Piezo_for_Jetting_Wax">Details are on the RepRap Wiki here.</a><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/09/heated-piezo-for-jetting-wax-and-other.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-4171802156114004625Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:24:00 +00002013-09-04T20:51:06.119+01:002013 AMRI Fellowships Wrap-Up and Final PresentationsThanks to all our supporters near and far, <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2013/08/announcing-amri-advanced-manufacturing.html" target="_blank">AMRI 2013 summer Fellowships</a> were a tremendous success!<br /><br /><a href="http://amrinstitute.org/" target="_blank">We have launched the new AMRI website at AMRInstitute.org</a> and will be populating it with documentation and more formal write-ups of each Fellow over the next month or so.<br /><div><br />Read More about <a href="http://news.rice.edu/2013/09/03/rice-brc-hosts-advanced-manufacturing-research-institute-2/" target="_blank">AMRI at Rice University here</a>.<br />Rice also did a great video about what we've been up to:<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/VrXRk96VhNQ" width="480"></iframe> <br /><br /><br />You can also watch the 2013 AMRI Fellows final presentations via this youtube playlist:<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/VebpbbZVL28?list=PL_jA9pfXtdcJRlV_Di1ft4Ncxmc9sqSDT" width="640"></iframe></div><div><br />HUGE thanks to all of our sponsors and supporters (especially all those in the #reprap IRC channel)!! We couldn't have done it without you!</div><div class="Body"><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.ultimachine.com/" title="http://www.ultimachine.com/">Ultimachine</a></div><div class="Body"></div><a href="http://bioe.rice.edu/" title="http://bioe.rice.edu/">Rice University</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://bioe.rice.edu/" title="http://bioe.rice.edu/">Department of Bioengineering</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://brc.rice.edu/" title="http://brc.rice.edu/">Bioscience Research Collaborative</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.mica.edu/Academic_Services_and_Libraries/Fabrication_Studios/Digital_Fabrication_Studio.html" title="http://www.mica.edu/Academic_Services_and_Libraries/Fabrication_Studios/Digital_Fabrication_Studio.html">Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.ultimaker.com/" title="http://www.ultimaker.com/">Ultimaker</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.makergear.com/" title="http://www.makergear.com/">MakerGear</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.seemecnc.com/" title="http://www.seemecnc.com/">SeeMeCNC</a><br /><a href="http://www.reprapdiscount.com/" target="_blank">RepRapDiscount</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://makerjuice.com/" title="http://makerjuice.com/">Maker Juice</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/JohnYang.com" title="JohnYang.com">JohnYang.com</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.misumiusa.com/" title="www.misumiusa.com">Misumi</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://www.makergear.com/" title="http://www.makergear.com/">MakerGear</a></div><div class="Body"><a href="http://reprap.org/" title="http://reprap.org/">RepRap.org</a><br /><br />We look forward to continuing the conversation about what AMRI is and what it should become. Let us know your thoughts!</div>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/09/2013-amri-fellowships-wrap-up-and-final.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-7142548778814141181Thu, 08 Aug 2013 03:24:00 +00002013-08-23T21:49:10.341+01:00Announcing AMRI: Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XAaE6AHCx_c/UgL_6_jZC3I/AAAAAAAAAHA/vFnGzzoIMyg/s1600/AMRI-BuildTheFuture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XAaE6AHCx_c/UgL_6_jZC3I/AAAAAAAAAHA/vFnGzzoIMyg/s400/AMRI-BuildTheFuture.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>UPDATE: AMRI FINAL PRESENTATIONS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN! FRIDAY AUGUST 23rd, 4 pm central time USA -- <a href="http://ustre.am/13UpB" target="_blank">UStream link is HERE:&nbsp;http://ustre.am/13UpB</a></b><br /><b><br /></b><b>We will also take questions via #reprap IRC channel.</b><br /><br /><br />We are starting an experiment.<br /><br />Will it succeed? If we knew ahead of time, it wouldn't be an experiment, now would it? :D<br /><br />For a while now, several of us have been thinking of a way to positively and constructively reinforce the unbelievable talent in the <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/IRC">#reprap community</a>, focus thinking, structure projects, and landscape a general framework in which progress can be made.<br /><br />So today I'm pleased to announce the launch of AMRI: Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute.<br /><br />Inspired by <a href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/soc/">Google Summer of Code</a> and work going on at <a href="http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/">Blender Foundation</a>, AMRI seeks a return to some of the ideals behind the <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2007/05/announcing-reprap-research-foundation_23.html">RepRap Research Foundation</a>. The goal is to provide breakthrough mentorship, infrastructure, and research funding for promising young <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture" target="_blank">makers</a></b>&nbsp;to pursue their interests using the scientific method.<br /><br /><div class="p1">The summer fellowship program currently has two components:</div><div class="p1">1) engineering design challenge</div><div class="p1">optionally followed by:</div><div class="p1">2) fundamental scientific investigation (pending the success of the engineering design challenge)</div><br />The end goal is unreservedly profit, if by "profit" you mean: gaining knowledge. Financial gains can be important, though they are secondary considerations at AMRI.<br /><br />Here, we are taking a concerted effort to apply <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method" target="_blank">the scientific method</a> to challenges in advanced manufacturing.<br /><br /><div class="p1">We have four outstanding fellows and amazing research projects about to get underway here at <a href="http://bioe.rice.edu/" target="_blank">Rice University</a>:</div><div class="p1"><a href="http://andreasbastian.com/" target="_blank">Andreas Bastian</a> - <a href="http://opensls.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">"3D Printing via laser-sintering of thermoplastic powders"</a></div><div class="p1"><a href="https://github.com/sjkelly/AMRI-Rice-201308-sjkelly" target="_blank">Steve Kelly</a> - <a href="https://github.com/sjkelly/AMRI-Rice-201308-sjkelly">"Ink-jet printing of genetically modified living bacteria"</a></div><div class="p1"><a href="http://open3dlp.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Anderson Ta</a> - <a href="http://open3dlp.blogspot.com/">"Digital light projection (DLP) photolithography of plastics and hydrogels"</a></div><div class="p1"><a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:109040" target="_blank">Ravi Sheth</a> - <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:109040">"Bacterial cellstruder for synthetic biology studies"</a></div><br />This year, AMRI runs from August 1st-August 31st. We have already started. This fellowship program is is an experiment. A soft-launch. We have some makers that were personally invited to take part in our experiment, sketch out research projects critical to Science, and make progress.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>AMRI FAQ</b> <br /><blockquote><b><i>Cool, so who's paying for this?</i></b></blockquote><blockquote>We have secured sponsorship so far from <a href="http://bioe.rice.edu/" target="_blank">Rice University</a>, <a href="http://www.mica.edu/Academic_Services_and_Libraries/Fabrication_Studios/Digital_Fabrication_Studio.html" target="_blank">Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)</a>, <a href="http://www.ultimachine.com/" target="_blank">Ultimachine</a>, <a href="http://www.ultimaker.com/" target="_blank">Ultimaker</a>, <a href="http://www.makergear.com/" target="_blank">MakerGear</a>, and <a href="http://www.seemecnc.com/" target="_blank">SeeMeCNC</a>. <b>Thank you all!</b> We are open to additional sponsorship... <a href="mailto:amri@rice.edu">Contact us!</a>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://jmil.web.rice.edu/" target="_blank">We are taking tax-deductible donations of any amount through Rice University's 501(c)3 here.</a> The charge to your account will read "RICE-IT WEB SRVC" <br />Donations will be used to help support the current projects, and any excess funds then organized to launch AMRI publicly and openly for Summer 2014 projects. We are currently running AMRI strictly through donations.</blockquote><b>READ MORE</b> after the jump...<br /><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><blockquote><b><i>When specifically does the August project begin, and how long will it run for?</i></b></blockquote><blockquote>The program this year is officially from August 1st - 31st. We will have formal presentations on Friday August 23rd in Houston, TX. We hope to livestream the presentations and also upload them online afterwards via the RepRap blog. I will note that all of the fellows are so amped for this event that many of them have working prototypes already done. If successful this year we hope to extend AMRI fellowships to run the entire summer in future years. </blockquote><blockquote><b><i>Will the initial program consist of the fellows, or are there others students involved that the fellows work with? </i></b></blockquote><blockquote>The four fellows this year will draw inspiration and advice from many sources <a href="http://opd.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=774" target="_blank">in our state-of-the-art research facility at Rice University</a>. There will be undergraduate and graduate students around that will inform many of their research directions. Most of the fellows have little-to-no recent training in Biology but have a lot of know-how on the "Maker" side. So the vision is to get them together interacting with experts in the field to help focus their goals on fundamental research questions that they and our resident scientists are after.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>On the flip-side, many of our best bioengineering students have little to no exposure or experience with what is commonly done in the Maker-movement. So I expect there to be great interactions within our labs. I have noticed this potential synergy extensively by bouncing back and forth between makerspaces and research labs. Each side has a phenomenal amount they can learn from each other. We aim to formally bring them together with AMRI.</blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.hoektronics.com/" target="_blank">Zach "Hoeken" Smith</a>, co-founder of <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/" target="_blank">MakerBot</a>&nbsp;and a RepRap Core Developer, has agreed to serve on the advisory board. <a href="http://prusaresearch.com/" target="_blank">Josef Prusa</a>, another RepRap Core Developer, will also be available in person towards the end of August to help provide additional guidance. We are still framing things. Things are in flux. This is a good thing. We are open to constructive criticism.</blockquote><blockquote>As part of the mission of AMRI Rice, the Fellows will also take part in a 4-day Advances in Tissue Engineering Short Course where they will receive a 32-hr crash-course in all the very latest in tissue engineering research from thought leaders from around the world. <a href="http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~mikosgrp/pages/ATE/2013/course_features.htm" target="_blank">This ATE short course is described here</a>.</blockquote><blockquote><b>Within their research project, do AMRI Fellows have specific goals they're trying to achieve within that timeframe?</b>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>The initial framework is as follows, to be developed jointly by the Mentor and the Fellow:&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>1) Each project has an engineering design phase with three components:&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>A) Define, Design and Develop -- accurately depicting the design criteria, assessing different designs that fit within budget constraints, and developing a plan of attack to make the equipment&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>B) Quantify and Qualify -- What are the equipment specifications? Under what conditions can it operate? With what materials? What are the relevant tolerances that can be expected? Next -- measure them. Were they accurately predicted? How closely did they match up? Are we still on budget target? A redesign may be required depending on how far out of specification the equipment has become.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>C) Document and Deploy -- A key component of any project, and one that too often gets overlooked, is the documentation for that equipment and sufficient details and instruction for others to deploy or repurpose the equipment completely independent. Documentation and deployment will be key components throughout all of AMRI.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>2) If engineering design phase is completed and a working prototype has been made, the remaining time can be used to explore a specific scientific question. For Laser-sintering the focus is on 3D printed carbohydrate glass for vascularized living engineered tissues. For DLP photolithography we will be encapsulating living mammalian cells and assessing their viability. For the bacterial ink-jet printer and the bacterial cell-struder we will be looking at cell-cell interactions and tuning complex multicellular behaviors. Scientific findings take much longer to investigate and verify because of the complexity of working with living cells, but we may get a glimpse of some exciting future directions with the work of these outstanding fellows.</blockquote><blockquote><b>Will they be given a research lab? What type of equipment will they have access to?&nbsp;</b></blockquote><blockquote>AMRI fellows have access to nearly 1000 sq. ft. in our state of the art BRC research facility at Rice that will be setup for AMRI fellows for August. The fellows will have access to whatever equipment and mentors they need. 3D Printers, electronics and soldering workstations, laser cutters, milling machines, and most importantly, a healthy research budget.</blockquote><blockquote><b>How can I get involved?</b><br /><br /><b>JOIN IN THE DISCUSSION:&nbsp;</b><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/amririce" target="_blank">Join the mailing list.</a>&nbsp;You can see how some of the projects are shaping up, vet this idea with us, provide feedback.<br /><br /><b>DONATE:&nbsp;</b><a href="http://jmil.web.rice.edu/" target="_blank">You can donate tax-deductible funds directly to AMRI through Rice University's 501c3 here.</a>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote><b>STAY TUNED:</b>&nbsp;AMRI final presentations (5 min each) will commence on Friday August 23rd. We hope to broadcast them live and take questions via&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet" target="_blank">the Internet</a>.</blockquote><div><br /></div><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/08/announcing-amri-advanced-manufacturing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8664095606281575517Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:35:00 +00002013-08-02T12:35:28.959+01:00announcementsG Codesg-code filehosthost softwareimprovementsMacmeshmultiple materialssimulation windowstlNew open source slicer: CuraEngine!<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19.190340042114258px;">Cura</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19.190340042114258px;">&nbsp;is the name of a divine figure whose name means "Care" or "Concern""</span></i></blockquote>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura">Wikipedia</a><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 19.190340042114258px;"><br /></span>Ever heard of Cura? Besides a divine figure, it's a 3D printing solution that is meant to be useful and usable to both beginning <i>and</i> advanced 3D printer users. David Braam is full-time developer of Cura, at Ultimaker. We recently released version 13.06, which was a major update. Compared to the previous version it looked... well ...exactly the same. But on the back-end, the engine that generates the toolpath from the mesh-surface model (e.g. the STL or AMF) was replaced by a new engine, written entirely from scratch.<br /><br />The short summary is for this initial release:<br /><ul><li><b>Faster slicing</b> <br />What took hours now takes seconds. Also, this enabled us to create the following two features.</li><li><b>On-the-fly model preparation</b><br />There is no slicing button anymore because it starts processing right-away.</li><li><b>Live tweaking of slicing parameters</b><br />Because you see toolpaths re-appear whenever you change a setting, you can quicky find the optimal settings for your print job.</li><li><b>Model fixing</b><br />The engine can fix major problem in a model.</li><li><b>Multiple materials</b><br />The engine was built from the start with multi-head printing in mind.</li><li><b>Cross-platform</b><br />The Engine is written in C++ and released for Linux, Windows &amp; Mac. Compilation on these and other platform should be trivial.</li><li><b>Open source</b><br />The license is&nbsp;Affero GPLv3.</li></ul>The main goals for this new engine were to be able to implement innovative features that improve the quality of 3D printed objects, and to create a code structure that encourages further development. An intermediate goal was to release it with the baseline feature set that is common in slicing engines, including the ability to robustly handle many kinds of (problematic) models and generate support structures.<br /><br />A nice side effect of the new slicer is that it turns out to be fast, really fast. We decided to do something unconventional: removing the "Prepare for printing" button from Cura's interface entirely. It will just start slice the model in the background (with a low-priority). If you change the layer height or any other setting, it will just restart. If you don't change settings, it may already have finished before you're thinking to save the resulting G-Code to an SD card or print directly through USB. An extra, pretty useful, side-effect is that you can inspect the generated toolpath, change the settings and see the new toolpath preview appear automatically and quickly, without pushing a button.<br /><br />Because Cura is developed to work with the Ultimaker and most other RepRap-based designs, we'd like to ask you what you think of the new engine. Also, because, like <a href="http://blog.ultimaker.com/cura-user-manual/">Cura</a>&nbsp;(<a href="https://github.com/daid/Cura">source</a>), the Engine is <a href="https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine">released</a> under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">Affero GPL version 3</a>, we'd love to see anyone benefit from this new solution and possibly help us improve it further.<br /><br />Below is a 45-minute presentation on the Cura release, focusing mostly on the new Cura Engine.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/68961154?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=ffffff" width="500"></iframe> <br /><br />Below is the interview with David by Andrew of 3DHacker.com:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yMAIsGV-OuA" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/08/new-open-source-slicer-curaengine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Erik de Bruijn)9Geldermalsen, The Netherlands51.87945821879827 5.268630981445312551.840251718798271 5.1879499814453123 51.918664718798269 5.3493119814453127tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8131797667575422324Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:04:00 +00002013-07-25T17:04:19.107+01:00ShopBot Desktop as a 3D Printer for Sugar GlassHi, So for Bioengineering research I've been looking for a way to improve precision and reproducibility of each print with a bit less consideration on cost (this is for working with human cells eventually, safety and sterility are more important than cost). The main constraint is I need it to be able to print sugar glass and use my <a href="https://github.com/jmil/BariCUDA">BariCUDA extruder</a>, which means the extruder mount needs to support a few pounds without having any problems.<br /><br />Kliment in #reprap suggested I modify a <a href="http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/desktop.htm">ShopBot Desktop</a>, and so that's exactly what we did. With awesome help from Gordon at ShopBot and Johnny at Ultimachine, we were able to get things going. Also, MAJOR props to Erik Zalm who maintains Marlin firmware for helping us get everything going. NOTE: BARICUDA is now a #define in Marlin so you can turn on/off sugar printing functionality on your RAMBo with a simple switch. Thanks again Erik!<br /><br />We took out the brains of the <a href="http://www.shopbottools.com/">ShopBot</a>, left the gecko stepper drivers, replaced the brains with a <a href="https://ultimachine.com/rambo">RAMBo board from Ultimachine</a>. We used the motor ext pins on the RAMBo board that we then sent the step and direction pulses to, and fed them directly into the stepper drivers using a modified 37 pin connector. My modified Marlin Firmware is available here: <a href="https://github.com/jmil/Marlin">https://github.com/jmil/Marlin</a> Here's the setup and some more details in the first video: <br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JncDHD0WovA?list=UUZWnO__2IFnY5TqZyLIY5GQ" width="560"></iframe> <br />The ShopBot is all acme rod for movement, and it can drive the motors very fast because the large motors (NEMA 34?) are held at 48 V. So you don't lose steps. It's still open loop motion control, but it has been awesome. This RepStrap has been fantastic for sugar printing and it is being used every day in the lab at UPenn.<br /><br />Now that I am setting up a new lab at <a href="http://bioengineering.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=4294967635">Rice University in Houston TX</a>, I am very excited to get another one! Forward SCIENCE! Did I mention you should contact me if you want to come do a Sabbatical? We need more specialized repraps for Bioengineering. More on that next month. :D<br /><br />Here's the final video printing sugar glass on a ShopBot Desktop:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DXTBOyLF95g" width="560"></iframe>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/07/shopbot-desktop-as-3d-printer-for-sugar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8495183477035536946Wed, 24 Jul 2013 16:32:00 +00002013-07-24T17:35:47.671+01:003D printers shown to emit potentially harmful nanosized particles<br/><br/><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am reposting this out of physorg.com. &nbsp;It appears that we have might have a problem not so much with the outgassing from our printers but from nanoparticles produced by our extruders during the printing process. &nbsp;Those of us who aren't already making arrangements for ventilation should possibly consider doing so.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://phys.org/news/2013-07-3d-printers-shown-emit-potentially.html">3D printers shown to emit potentially harmful nanosized particles</a></span></div>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/07/3d-printers-shown-to-emit-potentially.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Forrest Higgs)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8650233585064626387Mon, 08 Jul 2013 21:53:00 +00002013-07-08T22:56:17.141+01:00Your 3D print in the London Science Museum<div style="text-align: center;"><img height="320" id="irc_mi" src="http://viewgb.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Science-Museum.jpg" style="margin-top: 120px;" width="600" />&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>The Science Museum in London is producing an exhibition on 3D printing.<br /><br />It is intended to feature as part of it's introduction a wall of 3D printed items, of all shapes, sizes, colours and materials.<br /><br />To highlight the open and social aspect of 3D printing the Museum's Rohan Mehra would like to invite members of the RepRap community to donate an object to this introductory display.<br /><br />Your name would be added to a panel thanking all contributors.<br /><br />If you have created a physical 3D printed object you can freely send in, please e-mail Rohan:<br /><br /><a href="mailto:rohan.mehra@sciencemuseum.org.uk">rohan.mehra@sciencemuseum.org.uk</a><br /><br />Rohan Mehra<br />Exhibition Content Developer<br />Science Museum<br />London SW7http://blog.reprap.org/2013/07/your-3d-print-in-london-science-museum.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-6319462043292875857Thu, 04 Jul 2013 20:19:00 +00002013-07-04T21:19:26.489+01:00RepRap Morgan by Quentin Harley wins the Gada Prize!<div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<img alt="File:DSC0382-682x1024.jpg" border="0" height="599" src="http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/thumb/f/f9/DSC0382-682x1024.jpg/399px-DSC0382-682x1024.jpg" width="399" /></div><br />I'm delighted to announce that Quentin Harley's <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Morgan">RepRap Morgan</a> design has won the <a href="http://kprize.wordpress.com/prize-specifications/">Uplift Interim Personal Manufacturing Prize</a>, the funding for which was most generously provided by Kartik Gada.<br /><br /> In Second Place was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDBavOeqqg">'Simpson' by Nicholas Seward </a>and in Third Place was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lfONhUdHPo">'3DPrintMi' by Chris Lau</a>.http://blog.reprap.org/2013/07/reprap-morgan-by-quentin-harley-wins.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-7681301590629215340Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:10:00 +00002013-06-11T00:14:31.560+01:00Why is 3D printing such a powerful way to make solid objects?Journalists often ask me what is special about 3D printing.&nbsp; So I answer them.&nbsp; And then they don't print what I say.&nbsp; The reason is that they are frightened by mathematics, or that they think that their readers are.<br /><br />But you RepRap Blog readers eat mathematical arguments for breakfast.&nbsp; So here, for the record, is the answer:<br /><br /><style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: "WenQuanYi Micro Hei"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Hindi"; font-size: 12pt; }</style> <br /><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Why is 3D printing such a powerful way to make solid objects?</b></span></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">To answer this question we first have to ask another: “In what ways can the shape of a solid object be complicated?”</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Often things just get more complicated the more of them there are. If you are a bank with a million customers who have account numbers and your computer has to sort them into order, then that is a more complicated problem than it would be if you only had a thousand customers.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But shapes aren't just complicated like that. They can be complicated in two other ways as well. </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89gySgkQ7IQ/UbZb2B_Mk5I/AAAAAAAABK8/-ZNiA5c2oto/s1600/geom-complexity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="329" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-89gySgkQ7IQ/UbZb2B_Mk5I/AAAAAAAABK8/-ZNiA5c2oto/s640/geom-complexity.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This picture (thanks to my old friend John Woodwark for the idea for this) shows all three ways that shapes can be complicated:</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><ol><li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">First there is “combinatorial” complexity – that is the lots-of-bank-account-numbers complexity: a gear wheel has more bits to it than a triangle does;</div></li><li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Second there is “analytical” complexity – triangles are made of straight lines, which have simple equations. But complicated curved shapes have correspondingly complicated equations;</div></li><li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And third there is “dimensional” complexity – a triangle is two-dimensional, but a pyramid is three-dimensional.</div></li></ol><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">These three complexities are independent. You can have any mix of them.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But if you want a computer to control a machine to make shapes automatically, then dimensional complexity is the most difficult complexity to deal with. This is because, as the number of dimensions increases, the very nature of shape changes. Here are just a couple of examples: </div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><ol><li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If you have some points round a 2D circle you can visit them in order one after another; but if you have some points on a 3D sphere, there is no order that places them one after another; and </div></li><li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If you have a piece of string, you can tangle it in 3D (as any kitten will be able to demonstrate); but a piece of string in 2D is simpler, and so cannot be tangled.</div></li></ol><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Bearing this in mind, lets look at the difficulty of getting a computer to control machines to make something automatically in two ways: by cutting the thing from a solid block, and by 3D printing the thing layer by layer.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y3tPAP7L-Z8/UbZb-g-LJxI/AAAAAAAABLE/T6eRPQL3K0U/s1600/turbo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y3tPAP7L-Z8/UbZb-g-LJxI/AAAAAAAABLE/T6eRPQL3K0U/s640/turbo1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div><div align="CENTER" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Here is a turbocharger from a car engine. And the object top left with the yellow tip is a cutting tool that is removing material from a solid block to reveal the turbocharger like a sculptor chiselling a block of marble. To make the turbocharger the computer has to figure out how to move the yellow cutter.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Rather surprisingly (as we live in a 3D world) the cutter can move in five dimensions. These are the normal three: left-right, front-back, and up-down, <i><b>plus</b></i> rotations about those directions. The rotations are needed because the cutter must twist to cut the shape. That totals six dimensions, but rotation about the axis of the cutter itself doesn't count, which leaves five dimensions.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The computer controlling the cutter needs to work out how to move it around in that five-dimensional space. And not only that, it has to make sure that no part of the cutter (like the conical bit at the top where it attaches to the cutting machine) collides with any un-cut part of the raw block, or with the turbocharger being made.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This is a very very difficult mathematical and computational problem, and we still (2013) can only solve it for some shapes, even though we know the computer should theoretically be able to be cut out others that we can't (at the moment) solve.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rsf7Ytl8QpE/UbZcISnZNnI/AAAAAAAABLM/sZ1HVSqp79U/s1600/turbo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rsf7Ytl8QpE/UbZcISnZNnI/AAAAAAAABLM/sZ1HVSqp79U/s640/turbo2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Now let's look at the turbocharger being made on a 3D printer. This will start at the bottom and build the first layer of the turbocharger. Then it will move up a fraction and build the next layer. And so on.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The right hand picture shows a layer about half way up, and this is all that the computer has to deal with at each stage – a 2D problem, not a 5D one.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It is very easy to program a computer to deal with such 2D shapes, and – for this reason – 3D printing machines can make any shape that the physics of the machine can handle, no matter how complicated that shape is. And, unlike with cutting, there is no problem of collisions. The computer always knows that it can move the 3D printer freely above the layer being printed, because there is nothing there yet.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">(In reality, a tiny amount of 3D has to be dealt with: a 3D printer has to put disposable support material under any overhangs, because it can't build layers on thin air. But this is a very easy calculation to do. The computer works out the 2D slices starting at the top of the object and goes downwards. At any level the support material needed is the shape of everything in the layer above minus the shape of everything in this layer. When the computer has done all this, it then reverses the order and builds from the bottom up.)</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This simplicity of the computing and mathematics of 3D printing is the reason that it is humanity's most powerful manufacturing technology: the computer controlling a 3D printer will always have a much easier problem to solve than a computer cutting out the object being made, no matter how complicated the object is. And because of that, 3D printing is by far the most versatile way we have to make things.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></div>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/06/why-is-3d-printing-such-powerful-way-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-564304889668170022Fri, 24 May 2013 23:24:00 +00002013-05-25T00:24:34.009+01:00Like a glue gun on a robot arm...We've always described the RepRap in simplistic terms as being like a glue gun on a robot arm. Well, someone has taken this rather literally. It's actually quite invigorating to see people attempting to make more challenging structures than stacks of 2D planar laminations, and we've seen people using repraps to do this before, but the <a href="http://www.mataerial.com/" target="_blank">Mataerial</a> people seem to have it worked out pretty well.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mataerial.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.gizmag.com/inline/mataerial-3d-printer-3.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/05/like-glue-gun-on-roboit-arm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Vik Olliver)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-4094011919461474166Sun, 12 May 2013 23:54:00 +00002013-05-13T00:54:30.689+01:003D Printing Where It Needs To Be<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://ulule.me/presales/7/8/6/8687/capture-decran-2012-01-03-a-212851_png_640x860_q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ulule.me/presales/7/8/6/8687/capture-decran-2012-01-03-a-212851_png_640x860_q85.jpg" style="width: 400px;" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Here is a remarkable achievement&nbsp; <a href="http://fr.ulule.com/wafate/">Follow this link for details</a>.<br /><br />To quote Vik Olliver: "3D Printing Where It Needs To Be."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ulule.me/presales/7/8/6/8687/imag0559_jpg_640x860_q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ulule.me/presales/7/8/6/8687/imag0559_jpg_640x860_q85.jpg" style="width: 400px;" /></a></div>If the thousands of people involved in RepRap each contributed a few dollars, or twenty minutes of their expertise, think what this would become...http://blog.reprap.org/2013/05/here-is-remarkable-achievement-follow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-6761050133353517158Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:42:00 +00002013-04-24T15:44:41.682+01:00BotQueue v0.3 - Now with Webcams, Pausing, and More!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.hoektronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/DevQueue-Internets-+-Digital-Fabrication-Win-4-652x270.jpg" width="652" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>Coming quickly on the heels of the last release, the latest v0.3 release of BotQueue adds some really exciting new features that make it much nicer to use. &nbsp;The coolest new feature is webcam support. &nbsp;The client can now upload pictures of your machine while it is printing and show it on the BotQueue.com website. &nbsp;This means you can watch and control your bot from anywhere you have an internet connection using any device you want - computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Read more about it on the <a href="http://www.hoektronics.com/2013/04/24/botqueue-v0-3-webcams-pausing-and-more/">release post</a> or head over to <a href="http://botqueue.com/">BotQueue.com</a> to try it out. &nbsp;Works great with RepRap printers. &nbsp;100% open source guaranteed.</div></div>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/04/botqueue-v03-now-with-webcams-pausing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zach Smith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-6223680294282020339Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:07:00 +00002013-04-04T21:11:05.318+01:00Inside 3D Printing Conference & ExpoThe <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting/?c=i3dreprap">Inside 3D Printing Conference &amp; Expo</a>, April 22-23 in NYC, has attracted 3D printing companies, professionals, industry leaders, and hobbyists who will meet to discuss the latest topics and advancements in the ever-evolving 3D printing field.<br /><br />You’ll hear presentations by leaders in the field—Avi Reichental, President and CEO of 3D Systems, Hod Lipson, associate professor at Cornell University and coauthor of Fabricated: The World of 3D Printing, and Ofer Shochet, Executive VP of Products at Statasys. <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting/agenda.asp?c=i3dreprap">View the full agenda here</a>.<br /><br />Featured Session:<br /><br /><i>How Professional Investors Are Playing the 3D Printing Boom </i><br />A panel of venture capitalists, including professionals from T. Rowe Price Associates, Lux Capital, RRE Ventures, and Piper Jaffray, will explore where investors are placing their bets. You’ll learn what types of startups VCs are interested in funding and where to invest your own money in this emerging industry.<br /><br />The event’s exhibit hall and networking reception will provide attendants with an exciting opportunity to meet face-to-face with companies in the space. <br />Reprapers will save 15% off gold passports to the event with the code: RRP15. For the best rates, <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting/register.asp?c=i3dreprap">register today: Thursday, April 4.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/04/inside-3d-printing-conference-expo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8982142367811925612Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:04:00 +00002013-03-24T21:05:16.719+00:00Stop bad 3D printing patentsThe <a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a> and <a href="http://patents.stackexchange.com/">Ask Patents</a> are organising the submission of prior-art to stop 3D printing patents that shouldn't be awarded.&nbsp; Details are here:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/effs-fight-open-3d-printing-continues-askpatentscom">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/effs-fight-open-3d-printing-continues-askpatentscom</a><br /><br />There is a vast wealth of research and prior art in the RepRap community, on its Wiki, and in its blogs.&nbsp; All this material is in the public domain, and any attempt to patent any of it should not, therefore, be allowed.<br /><br />Please take a minute every now and then to visit the site and see if some company is trying to patent something that you know is already public.&nbsp; And fill in the form with a reference (or better a link) to any prior art that you know.&nbsp; <br /><br /><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2013/03/the-eff-and-ask-patents-are-organising.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-4644730712906614583Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:14:00 +00002013-03-07T21:14:11.218+00:00Monsanto's Bean CountersThanks to <a href="http://triplehelixinnovation.com/about">Melba Kurman</a> for bringing the following writ to the US Supreme Court to my attention:<br /><br /><a href="http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WARF-McBride-Amicus-January-24-2013.pdf">http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WARF-McBride-Amicus-January-24-2013.pdf</a><br /><br />As she says, the analogy struck on the bottom of Page 15 is essentially using RepRap as a model for the behaviour of a living system for the purposes of "intellectual property" law.&nbsp; The wheel has definitely turned full circle...<br /><br />I wonder, if that argument holds, how far you would get arguing that, as a living thing is deemed to be a type of RepRap machine, then, <i>ipso facto</i>, all living things must fall under the RepRap open licence...http://blog.reprap.org/2013/03/monsantos-bean-counters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-8512509270912401650Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:55:00 +00002013-03-04T17:59:54.853+00:00Inside 3D Printing3D Hackers, Industry experts, venture capitalists, RepRap geeks and people in the engineering, technology, manufacturing, culinary, finance, architecture, medical, and fashion industries will meet at <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting?c=i3dreprap">Inside 3D Printing Conference &amp; Expo</a>, April 22-23 in NYC. The two-day event is the first U.S. east coast expo that is fully focused on 3D printing, its applications, and services.<br /><br />Attendants will hear from notable thought leaders and explore how 3D printing will affect their lives and businesses. The event will feature more than thirty speakers, including people from Solid Concepts Inc, Autodesk, Inc., 3D Systems, Estee Lauder, Stratasys, Authentise, MGX by Materialise, and more.<br /><br />Keynote presentations will be given by Terry Wohlers, Principal Consultant and President, Wohlers Associates, Inc. (and a sometime critic of aspects of RepRap - go and discuss!) and Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and Co-Founder of Shapeways.<br /><br />Featured sessions will include Digital Materials, Spotlight on Fashion, Design Tools in the Age of 3D Printing, Transforming Education Through 3D Printing, Art &amp; Architecture: Redefining the Future of Design, How Professional Investors are Playing the 3D Printing Boom, and 3D Printing Firearms: The End of Gun Control? <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting/agenda.asp?c=i3dreprap">View the full agenda here</a>. <br /><br />The conference will also feature an expo hall filled with 3D printing, with companies like 3D Systems and MakerBot to provide opportunities for attendants to talk, to see demonstrations and to make contacts.<br /><br />Reprapers (that's you!) will get 15% off admission and gold passports with the promo-code: RRP15.&nbsp; For more information, or to register, <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting/register.asp?c=i3dreprap">click here</a>.http://blog.reprap.org/2013/03/inside-3d-printing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-6525776657879634224Tue, 26 Feb 2013 03:55:00 +00002013-02-26T05:01:25.771+00:00Vapor Treating ABS RP parts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xj53P2YzYGM" width="420"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Treating ABS parts with acetone is almost as old as RepRap itself, but usually this has involved either dipping the part into liquid acetone, which causes white streaks in the parts, or brushing the acetone onto the part with a slurry mix, which can work very well but tends to be a messy process.<br /><br />I have seen several setups out there, one by the&nbsp;<a href="http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/diy-smoothing-station/">Solidoodle&nbsp;Folks that&nbsp;involved&nbsp;a deep fryer, ice, tubing, and a candy&nbsp;thermometer,</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbuser/8358436132/in/photostream">completely passive systems that just used unheated acetone like TBuser of Makerbot did</a>.<br /><br />Unforgettably I am a horrible mixture of cheap and impatient, so I had to figure out a way to do this for little or no money out of pocket. To do this&nbsp;process&nbsp;you will need your RepRap's Heated Build Plate (must be able to reach 110C), a Glass Jar, Some Aluminum Foil, and a hanger to bend into a hook to get the parts out with.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O4Vep_GDgEQ/USwo5x0aevI/AAAAAAAAELI/L6-bZwO5OIA/s1600/2013-02-25+22.05.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O4Vep_GDgEQ/USwo5x0aevI/AAAAAAAAELI/L6-bZwO5OIA/s400/2013-02-25+22.05.09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />First place your glass jar on the heated build plate and put a liberal amount of Acetone into the bottom of the jar (3-4mm deep). Initially you need to ramp up to 120C, especially if you have a heavy jar. &nbsp;As the jar comes up to temp you will see the meniscus from the edge of the vapor cloud slowly&nbsp;creeping&nbsp;up the jar. &nbsp;Once the vapor is to the top of the jar, turn the plate back down to 90C for the treatment.<br /><br />Place your sheet of aluminum on your table, and your part on the sheet. &nbsp;Lower the object into the vapor bath (very&nbsp;carefully, you don't want it falling off). &nbsp;Leave the object in the acetone&nbsp;until&nbsp;you are happy with the&nbsp;amount&nbsp;of smoothing (the object continues to smooth out over the next few hours).<br /><br />Once the parts are in process you can not touch them at all, the easiest way we have found to get the parts in and out of the jar is to fold aluminum foil &nbsp;into a make shift table and use another smaller sheet of aluminum to act as a base for the part. &nbsp;You can fish the parts out of the jar using a wire coat hanger bent into a make shift flat hook.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1a9dAsyAaO0/USwpl7cNuqI/AAAAAAAAELw/G4SjrN915Hg/s1600/2013-02-25+22.05.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1a9dAsyAaO0/USwpl7cNuqI/AAAAAAAAELw/G4SjrN915Hg/s320/2013-02-25+22.05.50.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />When done, carefully remove the object from the bath. &nbsp;If you're done processing put a lid on the jar loosely and as the vapor cools it will condence back into liquid to be stored in your acetone jar again. Allow the part to sit for another ten minutes, the surface will be very squishy while the residual acetone dries off.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4g9bnzSjjE/USwrUM7vNrI/AAAAAAAAEMU/Y50uDvJsReg/s1600/2013-02-25+22.13.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="488" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4g9bnzSjjE/USwrUM7vNrI/AAAAAAAAEMU/Y50uDvJsReg/s640/2013-02-25+22.13.32.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After some concerns were brought up regarding Acetone Vapor on heated surfaces in the home we decided to make the following video for reference:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZJWhfpWlGFg" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This was done at <a href="http://fablocker.org/">Fablocker</a>&nbsp;in NC, USA. By <a href="http://www.strangespaceblog.com/">Austin Wilson</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/110900759695819888399/posts">Neil Underwood (Spacexula)</a>.&nbsp;</div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><br /></div></div>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/vapor-treating-abs-rp-parts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Neil Underwood)30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-2113870047654363414Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:19:00 +00002013-02-05T20:36:58.130+00:00Inside 3D Printing Event<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.inside3dprinting.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R8KwQqO6-fM/URFs9hiEz3I/AAAAAAAABJw/OaY1f_yqmwY/s1600/Inside3DPrinting150x150.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b>Come to the <a class="external text" href="http://www.inside3dprinting.com/" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.inside3dprinting.com/">Inside 3D Printing event in New York City</a>! The event runs from April 22-23 2013. We have arranged for reprappers (that's you!) to get a special 15% discount on admission - quote the code RRP15.</b>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/inside-3d-printing-event.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-1627743056125812963Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:35:00 +00002013-02-05T14:39:09.249+00:00Conducting Plastic ExperimentsWith the increasing number of multi-colour RepRaps out there (Ahem! Including ours at RepRapPro Ltd...), it will also be possible to use them to print in mixtures of materials with different engineering properties.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://reprappro.com/data/_uploaded/image/filament-test.jpg" style="height: 477px; width: 400px;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Measuring the resistance of a short length of conducting</div><div style="text-align: center;">filament extruded from a standard hot end. The 1.75mm filament</div><div style="text-align: center;">used as input was made by rolling and can also be seen.</div><br />We have been experimenting with putting conducting particles in printing plastic, inspired by this paper:<br /><br /><div style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0049365" id="internal-source-marker_0.07889430794766661">http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0049365</a></div><br />They used carbon as a filler, which works nicely, but gives rather high resistances.&nbsp; So we tried silver instead (expensive...) to get the resistance down.&nbsp; This didn't work very well because of the shape of the silver particles.<br /><br />The silver particles are flakes, and the carbon particles are fluffy and dendritic.&nbsp; We hypothesised that the shape of the carbon allows lots of particles to touch each other (or at least to conduct between them synapse-like by quantum tunneling), but gives the high resistance.&nbsp; So a mixture of the carbon to get the geometry of the particles right and silver to introduce short circuits between the carbon projections might work even better.<br /><br />There was also a problem with the silver when it came to contact resistance at the surface.&nbsp; It may be that the spiky carbon tends to stick out of the surface, whereas the flatter silver ends up with a plastic film over it.<br /><br />It seemed like mixing different conducting fillers may be the way to go.&nbsp; So we have tried experiments with a mixture of both silver and carbon, which seem to work better in combination than either on their own.<br /><br />Full details can be downloaded from the RepRapPro <a href="https://github.com/reprappro/Engineering/blob/master/ConductingPlastic.pdf?raw=true" style="color: blue;" target="_blank">Github repository here</a>.<br /><br />Finally, another possibility is mixing a magnetic powder into the filament, for which we don't care whether the particles touch or not, of course...http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/conducting-plastic-experiments.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-6751113391387161744Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:50:00 +00002013-01-22T18:50:37.457+00:00Why I'm Registered to be an Organ DonorHear why I'm registered to be an organ donor and how RepRap was used to print sugar filaments for research in regenerative medicine. The video below is courtesy of <a href="http://www.tedxyouthsandiego.com/">TEDxYouth@SanDiego</a>, what an amazing event!! <a href="http://blog.reprap.org/2012/07/on-challenge-of-3d-printing-sugar-for.html">HUGE THANKS again to the whole reprap community.</a> <br /><br /> <a href="http://www.hive76.org/why-im-registered-to-be-an-organ-donor" target="_blank">Click HERE for the full article</a><br /><br /><br /> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fqlhDSDWtvc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>http://blog.reprap.org/2013/01/why-im-registered-to-be-organ-donor.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jmil)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12223283.post-2814435184565267692Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:41:00 +00002012-10-29T17:41:11.087+00:00Interim Gada Prize - Enter Now!<span style="color: red;">Now is the time to submit entries for the $20,000 <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Gada_Prize" title="Gada Prize">Interim Gada Personal Manufacturing Prize</a>. Follow the link.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">The deadline is the end of November.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">Good luck everyone!</span><br /><span style="color: red;">&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><br /><br />http://blog.reprap.org/2012/10/interim-gada-prize-enter-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adrian Bowyer)0